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Wednesday, October 2nd
On my way to the New Orleans Aquarium of the Americas, I stopped at an ATM
but balked at the $2.75 fee. According to Wendy, ATMs in the French
quarter have fees of up to $4. Amazing. I got cash back at Walgreen's
instead.
Looking back into a large tank at the Aquarium. You enter this room through that underwater tunnel.
|
 A
nice stingray in the Gulf of Mexico exhibit. |
 In
the Amazon Rain Forest section |
 Sawfish..
or maybe a paddlefish. |
 At
the penguin exhibit. |
 Their
treasured white alligator. |
 "Sharks
in all shapes and sizes, from Australia’s wobbegongs to the sleek
blacktip reef sharks" promised the brochure. |
 I
left the aquarium around 3pm, and the town had begun to take on a weird
atmosphere. A gigantic storm was on the way. |
 A
bar called Temptations had boarded up their windows |
 Thanks
to lax open-container laws, kegmasters like this guy could sell beer to
go, as if the whole city were a giant, budget-priced stadium. |
 "We
don't run from Hurricanes, we drink them" |
 Still
more boarding up. |
 The
Cornstalk Fence Hotel sign had been tied up by a drunken sailor. |
 Here
I am on the street in the French Quarter, drinking recklessly from a
plastic naked-lady glass.
The drinks are always strongest right before a storm. |
 An
alternative to boarding up windows is taping them up.
The tape behind this sloshed local reads "we are waiting it out". |
 Ok,
so actually, the regular taping was done by store owners, but then Wendy
and I decided to add our own colorful taped messages to windows in the
Quarter.
"Swamp tours" was my favorite, in anticipation of city-wide flooding. Others included "No lifeguard on duty", "Free Willy", "Slippery when wet" and several tic-tac-toe games. Wendy lives high above street level, so we figured the best way to escape the storm's fury was to numb our senses with powerful sedatives. |
Please read Part 4 of New Orleans Travelogue
Other Travelogues: Minneapolis 2001 | Burning Man 2001 | Europe 1999 | Costa Rica 2000 | New York 2002
Back to main Cockeyed | contact Rob | Last updated Oct 9th, 2002. |